A New Urban Fantasy

I've said it before--while I do have some virtues--patience is not among them. I spent a lot of time in waiting rooms this last week, and I don't do waiting well.

Fortunately I had an ARC of a new urban fantasy that will be released on June 24. It is a well-written, remarkably imaginative novel. I was sorry when I finished it.

The book is The Iron Hunt; the author is Marjorie M. Liu. I highly recommend it.

Maxine Kiss is a Hunter. Centuries before, demons and mankind fought a battle. With the help of some supernatural beings, the demons were imprisoned in another reality, behind the veil. A group of Hunters were charged with patrolling the world, to track down and kill those demons that escape the prison.

Maxine is the last of the Hunters. Her only assistance are five little demons who forged an alliance with her long-ago ancestor.

This is from the back cover of the ARC:

By day, her tattoos are her armor. By night, they unwind from her body to take on forms of their own--demons of the flesh, turned into flesh. This is the only family demon hunter Maxine Kiss has ever known. It's the only way to live, and the very way she'll die. For one day her demons will abandon her for her daughter to asssure their own survival--leaving Maxine helpless against her enemies.

The veil is falling. Demons are escaping. Maxine is beset on all sides.

Liu has previously written half a dozen paranormal romances for Dorchester's Leisure imprint centered around a special detective agency called Dirk and Steele. The books were well-received, but I've not read any of them.

The Iron Hunt appears to be Liu's first novel for my own publisher, Penguin. I will look forward to the next. Her writing is at once vivid and lyrical. If you like urban fantasy, be sure to keep an eye out for this novel.